The Problem with Polls, Eugene McCarthy Told Me

"The problem with polls," Eugene McCarthy told me, "is that your campaign reads them."

While looking for something else, I ran across this quote in an old story I did for the Boston Phoenix. But it certainly jumped out, in view of this week--the worst polling week of the campaign for Obama.

McCarthy had been saying that polls weren't always accurate, they weren't always relevant, and the only poll that counted was on election day. But if they were good, your campaign people could get complacent. And if they were bad, they could get discouraged. Both are bad, but this year in particular, discouragement is worse.

Everybody knew that if John McCain was ever going to move up in the polls it would be this week, with his convention bump. Of course, many Obama supporters were hoping it wouldn't happen, in which case the election would seem pretty much in the bag. Now they may be worried that the polls will stay favorable to McCain, especially since there isn't another big event on the horizon that might change them, at least until the first debate. (And if McCain's numbers go down before then, Chuck Todd of NBC says, it suggests that the Palin Effect is wearing off. Because most if not all of McCain's bump is due to Palin.)

There are lots of questions about these polls anyway. They may have oversampled Republicans (there are undeniably more GOPers in the latest Gallup poll than there were in July's,) and don't reflect Democratic registration gains. Still, the movement for McCain has resulted in him coming closer, or moving only slightly ahead. And while a number of favorables for McCain jumped up in the NBC poll, they also increased for Obama--often pushing him over the 50% mark.

But bad poll numbers can discourage people in their first campaign, who aren't used to the ups and downs. They can discourage veteran campaigners and observers, as we "catastrophize," and recall again the bewildering behavior of voters in every presidential election since Jimmy Carter, except two. It evokes our fears that voters aren't taking this seriously, that they look at this election with all the seriousness of voting for an American Idol.

There's nothing wrong with a little motivating fear. But this year in particular, any real discouragement and consequent lack of optimistic action could be deadly.

Why? Because (I believe) this election is going to be won on enthusiasm.

It's a change election. The electorate itself is changing, as America is becoming more diverse and more young people are getting politically aware and involved. But we may not be past the point of no return yet. The people who have been running things are powerful and they aren't giving up.

Enthusiasm is particularly important for the two most crucial segments of the electorate for Obama's victory: young people and African Americans.

If young people become defeatist, turn bitter and cynical, they not only may fail to vote in sufficient numbers, but they deprive the campaign of the energy and enthusiasm that fuels voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts. Young voters represent the future that everybody should be voting on.

The African American vote is also imperiled by discouragement. I saw Oakland CA performer and activist Donald Lacy do his one-man show, "Color Struck," this past weekend. From the stage he expressed wonderment at Obama's nomination, but couldn't quite believe that America is going to elect a black man to the presidency. After the performance he came out into the lobby wearing an Obama t-shirt. But in conversation he seemed even more skeptical. Somehow, Obama is going to be prevented from winning. But...he was still wearing that t-shirt.

From what I've heard before, this seems like a common attitude in the African American community. Their enthusiasm is going to drive them to the polls, or their discouragement is going to keep them home.

That's why the worst thing about polls is that your campaign reads them. Reading them is one thing. Taking them to heart is another.

Obama folks, you can't control the media, or what Obama says or doesn't say. You have power over only yourself. Over what you do, and how you do it. Enthusiasm is infectious. And that's going to be very, very important.

Remember how this started?

Yes, we can.

What Do You Talk About When You Can't Explain?

"THE SILENCE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS DEAFENING. IT WAS DEAFENING. ON JOBS, ON HEALTH CARE, ON ENVIRONMENT, ON ALL THE THINGS THAT MATTER TO THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS I GREW UP IN. ..What do you talk about when you CANNOT EXPLAIN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS OF FAILURE?" Joe Biden in PA today.

Obama Response

"You're hearing a lot about me, most of which isn't true. What you're not hearing is a lot about you."

Smug Lies

A Short Catalog of Big Lies

Here's a short catalog of big lies candidate for Vice-President Palin and other speakers at the Republican convention have told about themselves and Barack Obama, plus several more that the McCain campaign is otherwise promoting, compiled by the Associated Press.

Perhaps the biggest distortion are on taxes. Palin and others insisted that Obama will raise taxes on most Americans. It's not true, according to non-partisan observers such as the Tax Policy Center, which found that Obama's middle class TAX CUTS "would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually."

And if you heard the speeches last night, you know that misstating the facts wasn't the worst of it. This is the party of resentment, bitterness, spite and barely concealed hate. It's time for a change.

Which President Do You Believe?

President Bush: "The man we need is John McCain. "
















President Clinton: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States."

Obama in Milwaukee

"Because if there’s a poor child out there, that’s my child. If there’s a senior that’s having trouble, that’s my grandparent. If there’s a guy who’s lost his job, that’s my brother. If there’s a woman out there without healthcare, that’s my sister. Those are the values that built this country. Those are the values we are fighting for. "

Obama in Milwaukee: the Video

This is the whole 12 minute speech. The quoted lines begin about 7 minutes in, but it's a great short speech as a whole.

Obama: Quiet Storms

On Monday, Barack Obama kept his schedule of appearances but cut back on the partisan content of his remarks in Michigan and Wisconsin. But addressing a Labor Day audience in Milwaukee, after noting how unions have improved life for working people, and how people united can do more than each of us alone, he spoke of the values at the core of his campaign. I saw some video--and I plan to post it when it becomes available--and he was not speaking from a text or notes, but from the heart. Here is the last part of what he said, as quoted by Jay Newton-Small of Time, who said "he was as good as I've ever heard him."

"That spirit of looking out for one another, that core value that says I am my brothers’ keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, that spirit is most evident during times of great tragedy, it’s most evident during times of great hardship, it’s most evident when natural disasters strike because we understand that only God has control and so it takes it out of the realm of politics. We all understand that we have to come together.

But that spirit can’t just be restricted to moments of great catastrophe. Because as I stand here today and look out at the thousands of folks who have gathered here today, I know that there’s some folks that are going through their own quiet storms.
[…]
There’re people out there who’ve seen their jobs shipped overseas. There’re people out there who don’t have healthcare, maybe they’ve been trying to pay it on a credit card but mostly they’ve just been putting off trying to see a doctor. There’re seniors out there that don’t know how they’re going to pay their home heating bill this winter. There are folks out there that don’t know how they’re going to fill up the gas tank. There are young people in this audience right now that have graduated from high school, have the grades and want to go to college, but don’t have the money. There are young people being born in the inner cities, right here in Milwaukee, that don’t see any prospects for the future that think the only path available to them is a casket or a jail cell.

All across America there are quiet storms taking place. There are lives of quiet desperation. People who need just a little bit of help. Now, Americans are a self-reliant people, we’re an independent people. We don’t like asking somebody else to do what we can do ourselves but you know what we understand is that every once in a while somebody’s going to get knocked down.

Every once in a while somebody’s going to go through some hard times. When we least expect it tragedy may strike. And what has always made this country great is the understanding that we rise and fall as one nation, that values and family, community and neighborhood, they have to express themselves in our government. Those are national values. Those are values that we all subscribe to. And so that the spirit that we extend today and in the days to come as we monitor what happens on the Gulf that’s the spirit that we’ve got to carry with us each and every day. That’s the spirit that we need in our own homes and it’s the spirit that we need in the White House. And that’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America.

Because if there’s a poor child out there, that’s my child. If there’s a senior that’s having trouble, that’s my grandparent. If there’s a guy who’s lost his job, that’s my brother. If there’s a woman out there without healthcare, that’s my sister. Those are the values that built this country. Those are the values we are fighting for. "

--Barack Obama Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sept. 1, 2008

The Obama Bounce

While Barack Obama and Joe Biden campaigned in Pennsylvania and Ohio after the Dem convention (they're with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in the second photo down, and that's John Glenn with them in the third) Americans were talking to pollsters. Today's Gallup poll--the traditional measure of a convention bounce--shows that Obama increased his lead, and is at the magic 50% mark, with McCain at 43. A CBS poll today shows a slightly larger 8 point lead.

Here's how the USA Today story about the Gallup poll begins:The Democratic National Convention significantly boosted Americans' views of Barack Obama as a strong leader who "shares your values" and can manage the economy and Iraq, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Saturday and Sunday finds. Republican John McCain's advantage in handling terrorism was dramatically reduced and his "unfavorable" rating ticked up to its highest level this year."

The story also notes: On personal characteristics, Obama has eliminated McCain's advantage over him as "a strong and decisive leader." By 46%-44%, those surveyed say that characteristic applies more to Obama than McCain. Before the convention, McCain held an eight-point advantage. Obama has a 13-point advantage as someone who "shares your values," double the edge he held before the convention. He has an eight-point advantage as someone who is "honest and trustworthy; before the convention, they were ranked equally on that quality."

Hurricane Update

Gustav is still a hurricane, and has cut off power in Baton Rouge. New Orleans lucked out--the levees survived the initial storm surge and it didn't get the quantity of rain so far that it could have. But at this hour at least one levee is threatened, so flooding in part of the city is still possible, perhaps likely.

Meanwhile, hurricane Hanna is likely to make landfall on the East Coast this week, and another hurricane is building, perhaps two more.

Landfall Monday

Gustav is expected to arrive sooner but maybe

not as strong as predicted earlier, but the timing

is tricky. It may make landfall as a category 3 between noon and

2pm, and may catch high tide, which will increase

the storm surge. So far it is tracking west of New

Orleans, and the predicted storm surge will test

the levees. It's a big storm with lots of rain and

potential for tornadoes. Texas is apt to get quite

a bit of rain from it over the next few days.

On Track for New Orleans

Gustav continues on track towards New Orleans.
Mandatory evacuation of that city is Sunday,
although perhaps a million people have already
moved out of the storm's path. That path may be
further complicated by tropical storm Hanna behind
it, so Gustav may make landfall in the U.S. more than
once. Sunday afternoon Republicans announce how
this will affect their convention schedule. Click image
to enlarge. Gustav is a large storm is size as well as
power--it left Cuba a strong category 4 and is likely
to be a category 5 soon.
Update 5pm Pacific: The good news is that Gustav
unexpectedly weakened and is no longer expected to
be more than a category 3 hurricane when it hits U.S.
mainland. But that's still very dangerous, and storm surges could
still flood New Orleans. Over 2 million people have evacuated along
the Gulf coast. The GOP convention is curtailing all
but necessary business on Monday.

The Obama Story

This wonderful short Obama bio played just before his acceptance speech Thursday. It's finally been posted on YouTube, so here it is.

Category 4

Gustav is now a category 4 hurricane with winds
of 145 mph. It is heading directly for New Orleans,
which has begun evacuations, but some computer models
suggest it could veer slightly west and make landfall
in Texas. However, if it stays on course to New Orleans, Dr. Masters
writes "Gustav is capable of bringing a storm surge to
the city that will overwhelm the levees." Others suggest
it could strengthen once it leaves Cuba, where large
evacuations are underway, and enters the Gulf.
This storm has already killed 79 people.
There's another one right behind it.

Gustav Heading for U.S.

At this hour, Gustav is a category 2 hurricane with
100 mph winds. Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground
suggests it could well become a category 3, and suggest
its time for people in New Orleans to leave. Mayor Ray
Nagin of New Orleans said Friday that evacuations
of the city could begin today.

Happy Birthday, John McSame

Today is John McCain's 72nd birthday. These photos were taken on his 69th, while New Orleans was being drowned by hurricane Katrina. Now another hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf, and thanks to Bush-McCain indifference, the area is just as vulnerable.

Enough

John McCain celebrated his 72nd birthday by naming Sarah Palin, the new governor of Alaska, as his VP candidate. Jonathan Alter in Newsweek:

Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You're 72 now, a cancer survivor, and a presidential candidate who has said on many occasions that the most important criteria for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president. Your campaign against Barack Obama is based on the simple idea that he is unready to be president. So you've picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 8,500 people. You've selected a potential leader of the free world who knows little or nothing about the major issues of the day beyond energy. Oh, and she's being probed in her state for lying and abuse of power."

The photos above are of McCain and President Bush celebrating McCain's 69th birthday, on the same day as hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and the Bush administration let that city drown, let people suffer for days, and never did respond adequately.

Now as the Republican convention is set to begin, another hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf, possibly New Orleans itself. Yet a New York Times editorial begins: Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, residents there are nervously watching the progress of Tropical Storm-threatening-to-be-Hurricane Gustav. No less nerve-wracking is the knowledge that federal emergency planners have failed to come up with a new strategy for providing housing to disaster victims.

In July — a full year after Congress’s mandated deadline — the Federal Emergency Management Agency produced a skimpy draft proposal. Most of its required topic specialties — including how to house the poor and the disabled, how to house victims close to their jobs and how to manage large camps for evacuees — were left blank. Instead, the proposal called for handing those plans off to a task force of experts. And, oh yes, that task force has yet to be formed.

We've had enough of cynical political ploys, uncaring incompetence, and failure to value the lives of the most vulnerable Americans. The past eight years have severely damaged this country in multiple ways. It will take immense effort and dedication and intelligence to repair that damage and start meeting new challenges. We can't afford four more years. The economic news of today--lower incomes, higher inflation--is another reason why. It's time for a change.

Speech of a Lifetime

Barack Obama delivered an acceptance speech
at Mile High stadium in Denver that moved the
crowd of 84,000 and was praised by nearly all
commentators. Excerpts below. Photos: Reuters,
click collage to enlarge.

Obama: The American Promise

Excerpts from Barack Obama's acceptance speech, which commentators have all called one of the best such speeches ever delivered. The full text and video can be found here.

"Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement? It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own. Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.

That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now.So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President..

Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it. Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow. I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office. Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy.

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength."... Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.
If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess."

Barack Obama

click collage to enlarge.

Yes We Can at Mile High

will. i. am and John Legend perform "Yes We Can"

Mile High

By the time Barack Obama spoke,

there were more than 84,000

people at Mile High stadium in Denver.

Thursday in Denver

At Mile High in Denver, Gov. Bill Richardson,
Barney Smith, a citizen of Indiana, and Al
Gore, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. For some
of what they said, see below. All photos: Reuters.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON: "It's time we had a president committed to fighting poverty in the Third World and ending the genocide in Darfur; who leads international efforts to stop global warming, strengthens our friendship with Mexico and Latin America, and stands behind Israel with full-time diplomacy to achieve peace in the Middle East; a president who ends the global scourge of AIDS in our time and sets an example of moral leadership by following our constitution, shutting down Guantanamo, and ending torture."

BARNEY SMITH: one of the remarkable features of the evening at Mile High was that just previous to Obama's speech, VP candidate Joe Biden introduced several ordinary Americans who told their story, and they all did so with passion and often with wit. The crowd favorite may well have been Barney Smith of Indiana, who said he was voting for Obama because he cares more about Barney Smith than about Smith Barney.

AL GORE: "Today, we face essentially the same choice we faced in 2000, though it may be even more obvious now, because John McCain, a man who has earned our respect on many levels, is now openly endorsing the policies of the Bush-Cheney White House and promising to actually continue them. The same policies all over again? Hey, I believe in recycling, but that's ridiculous.

We are facing a planetary emergency which, if not solved, would exceed anything we've ever experienced in the history of humankind. In spite of John McCain's past record of open mindedness on the climate crisis, he has apparently now allowed his party to browbeat him into abandoning his support of mandatory caps on global warming pollution.

Instead of letting lobbyists and polluters control our destiny, we need to invest in American innovation. Almost a hundred years ago, Thomas Edison said, "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." We already have everything we need to use the sun, the wind, geothermal power, conservation and efficiency to solve the climate crisis--everything, that is, except a president who inspires us to believe, "Yes we can."

So how did this no-brainer become a brain-twister? Because the carbon fuels industry--big oil and coal--have a 50-year lease on the Republican Party and they are drilling it for everything it's worth. And this same industry has spent a half a billion dollars this year alone trying to convince the public they are actually solving the problem, when they are in fact making it worse every single day.

This administration and the special interests who control it lock, stock and barrel after barrel, have performed this same sleight-of-hand on issue after issue. Some of the best marketers have the worst products; and this is certainly true of today's Republican Party.

So what can we do about it? We can carry Barack Obama's message of hope and change to every family in America. And pledge that we will be there for Barack Obama--not only in the heat of this election, but in the aftermath as we put his agenda to work for our country.

We can tell Republicans and Independents, as well as Democrats, why our nation needs a change from the approach of Bush, Cheney and McCain. After they wrecked our economy, it is time for a change. After they abandoned the search for the terrorists who attacked us and redeployed the troops to invade a nation that did not attack us, it's time for a change. After they abandoned the American principle first laid down by General George Washington, when he prohibited the torture of captives because it would bring, in his words, "shame, disgrace and ruin" to our nation, it's time for a change.

When as many as three Supreme Court justices could be appointed in the first term of the next president, and John McCain promises to appoint more Scalias and Thomases and end a woman's right to choose, it's time for a change.

Many people have been waiting for some sign that our country is ready for such change. How will we know when it's beginning to take hold? I think we might recognize it as a sign of such change, if we saw millions of young people getting involved for the first time in the political process. This election is actually not close at all among younger voters - you are responding in unprecedented numbers to Barack Obama's message of change and hope.

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon awakening to the challenge of a present danger, shaking off complacency to rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of embracing change.

A century and a half ago, when America faced our greatest trial, the end of one era gave way to the birth of another. The candidate who emerged victorious in that election is now regarded by most historians as our greatest president. Before he entered the White House, Abraham Lincoln's experience in elective office consisted of eight years in his state legislature in Springfield, Illinois, and one term in Congress - during which he showed the courage and wisdom to oppose the invasion of another country that was popular when it started but later condemned by history.

The experience Lincoln's supporters valued most in that race was his powerful ability to inspire hope in the future at a time of impasse. He was known chiefly as a clear thinker and a great orator, with a passion for justice and a determination to heal the deep divisions of our land. He insisted on reaching past partisan and regional divides to exalt our common humanity. In 2008, once again, we find ourselves at the end of an era with a mandate from history to launch another new beginning. And once again, we have a candidate whose experience perfectly matches an extraordinary moment of transition."

Elsewhere in Cyberspace

I've posted my recollections of the August 28, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, with photos, here. Without photos, it tops the Rescued list at Daily Kos.

The Ticket

As JFK did the night before his stadium acceptance speech, Barack Obama briefly visited the convention hall, visiting with VP candidate Joe Biden and his family (that's some of his grandchildren in the top photo), to greet the delegates and tell them that he invited as many people who wanted to, to attend his acceptance speech Thursday because his campaign has always been about change from the bottom up, not the top down. (However, not even Mile High Stadium can hold all the people who wanted to come. Only 72,000 or so.)

Wednesday in Denver

SENATOR JOHN KERRY: "Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it. Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.

And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time."

So remember, when we choose a commander-in-chief this November, we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better. And time and again, Barack Obama has been proven right.

When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just three months after 9/11 and proclaimed, "Next up, Baghdad!", Barack Obama saw, even then, "an occupation of "undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences" that would "only fan the flames of the Middle East." Well, guess what? Mission accomplished.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When Barack Obama promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to our enemies, John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it "the soft comfort of appeasement." But today, Bush's diplomats are doing exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When we called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, John McCain called it "cut and run." But today, even President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki agree on - guess what? - a timetable. So who can we trust to keep America safe? "

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: "Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama.That makes two of us. Actually that makes 18 million of us - because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I've done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job. Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

Look at the example the Republicans have set: American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They've worked harder and produced more. What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than ¼ as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage. I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by unprecedented multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well connected? What about Katrina and cronyism?

America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will.

But on the two great questions of this election, how to rebuild the American Dream and how to restore America's leadership in the world, [McCain] still embraces the extreme philosophy which has defined his party for more than 25 years, a philosophy we never had a real chance to see in action until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and Congress. Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades were implemented.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty - and millions more losing their health insurance.

Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.

They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time is not the charm.

My fellow Democrats, sixteen years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared prosperity. Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

His life is a 21st Century incarnation of the American Dream. His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the "more perfect union" of our founders' dreams. The values of freedom and equal opportunity which have given him his historic chance will drive him as president to give all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, their chance to build a decent life, and to show our humanity, as well as our strength, to the world.

We see that humanity, that strength, and our future in Barack and Michelle Obama and their beautiful children. We see them reinforced by the partnership with Joe Biden, his wife Jill, a dedicated teacher, and their family.
Barack Obama will lead us away from division and fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope. If, like me, you still believe America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary, Chelsea and me in making Senator Barack Obama the next President of the United States."

CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: "My mother's creed is the American creed: No one is better than you. You are everyone's equal, and everyone is equal to you. My parents taught us to live our faith, and treasure our family. We learned the dignity of work, and we were told that anyone can make it if they try. That was America's promise. For those of us who grew up in middle-class neighborhoods like Scranton and Wilmington, that was the American dream and we knew it.

But today that American dream feels as if it's slowly slipping away. I don't need to tell you that. You feel it every single day in your own lives. I've never seen a time when Washington has watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back up.

Almost every night, I take the train home to Wilmington, sometimes very late. As I look out the window at the homes we pass, I can almost hear what they're talking about at the kitchen table after they put the kids to bed. Like millions of Americans, they're asking questions as profound as they are ordinary. Questions they never thought they would have to ask:* Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?* Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars to fill up the car?* Winter's coming. How we gonna pay the heating bills?* Another year and no raise?* Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care?* Now, we owe more on the house than it's worth. How are we going to send the kids to college?* How are we gonna be able to retire? That's the America that George Bush has left us, and that's the future John McCain will give us.

When John McCain proposes $200 billion in new tax breaks for corporate America, $1 billion alone for just eight of the largest companies, but no relief for 100 million American families, that's not change; that's more of the same.
Even today, as oil companies post the biggest profits in history--a half trillion dollars in the last five years--he wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks. But he voted time and again against incentives for renewable energy: solar, wind, biofuels. That's not change; that's more of the same.

Millions of jobs have left our shores, yet John continues to support tax breaks for corporations that send them there. That's not change; that's more of the same. He voted 19 times against raising the minimum wage. For people who are struggling just to get to the next day, that's not change; that's more of the same. And when he says he will continue to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq when Iraq is sitting on a surplus of nearly $80 billion, that's not change; that's more of the same.

The choice in this election is clear. These times require more than a good soldier; they require a wise leader, a leader who can deliver change--the change everybody knows we need. Barack Obama will deliver that change.

Barack Obama will reform our tax code. He'll cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people who draw a paycheck. That's the change we need. Barack Obama will transform our economy by making alternative energy a genuine national priority, creating 5 million new jobs and finally freeing us from the grip of foreign oil. That's the change we need. Barack Obama knows that any country that out teaches us today will out-compete us tomorrow. He'll invest in the next generation of teachers. He'll make college more affordable. That's the change we need.

Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the typical family, and, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for all Americans. That's the change we need. Barack Obama will put more cops on the streets, put the "security" back in Social Security and never give up until we achieve equal pay for women. That's the change we need.

Again and again, on the most important national security issues of our time, John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was proven right.

Folks, remember when the world used to trust us? When they looked to us for leadership? With Barack Obama as our president, they'll look to us again, they'll trust us again, and we'll be able to lead again.

Our greatest presidents--from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy--they all challenged us to embrace change. Now, it's our responsibility to meet that challenge.

Millions of Americans have been knocked down. And this is the time as Americans, together, we get back up. Our people are too good, our debt to our parents and grandparents too great, our obligation to our children is too sacred.
These are extraordinary times. This is an extraordinary election. The American people are ready. I'm ready. Barack Obama is ready. This is his time. This is our time. This is America's time."

History

Everyone knew it was going to happen, but when
Barack Obama was officially nominated by acclamation
as the first African American in history to be nominated
by a major political party for President, the emotion
suddenly hit many on the Democratic Convention floor,
as captured by AP photographers. Present for this
moment was Mohammad Ali. Click collage to enlarge.